La actividad avícola de la región Norte del Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires está constituida principalmente por la producción de pollo parrillero y huevo fresco. Esta actividad agropecuaria ...resulta, después de la horticultura, segunda en importancia de producción en el ámbito cercano a la gran metrópolis. El avance urbano de los últimos años ha condicionado a la avicultura debido al surgimiento de nuevas disputas por la ocupación del suelo y de crecientes tensiones productivo-ambientales. La presencia de olores, moscas, la generación de grandes cantidades de residuos, y la cercanía a nuevos espacios urbanizados afectó negativamente el crecimiento y estabilidad de esta actividad productiva. Contar con un relevamiento de la avicultura en la zona, considerando la disposición y uso de desechos, permitirá intervenir tecnológicamente para minimizar los factores condicionantes de dicha actividad. El objetivo de este trabajo fue realizar un diagnóstico de la situación actual en el sector avícola del territorio norte del Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, que constituya información de base para poder evaluar posibles intervenciones que contribuyan a la convivencia entre el sector residencial y productivo. Se realizaron encuestas personales a campo para evaluar variables como tamaño de granja, nivel tecnológico y manejo de residuos. Este trabajo permitió visualizar una gran diversidad tecnológica en las granjas del territorio y su incidencia sobre la logística de los residuos. Se observó que el actual manejo de los desechos puede acarrear riesgos sanitarios y ambientales, existiendo mayores limitaciones para la gestión del guano en las granjas dedicadas a la producción de huevos. Asimismo, a través de estos contactos se logró identificar productores interesados en agregar valor al residuo y transformar un problema en una oportunidad.
The Role of PCSK9 in Infectious Diseases Magnasco, Laura; Sepulcri, Chiara; Antonello, Roberta Maria ...
Current medicinal chemistry,
01/2022, Letnik:
29, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In recent years, many aspects of the physiological role of PCSK9 have been elucidated, in particular regarding its role in lipid metabolism, cardiovascular risk but also its role in innate immunity. ...Increasing evidence is available on the involvement of PCSK9 in the pathogenesis of viral infections, mainly HCV, as well as in the regulation of host response to bacterial infections, mainly sepsis and septic shock. Moreover, the action of PCSK9 has been investigated as a crucial step in the pathogenesis of malaria infection and disease severity.
Aim of this paper is to review available published literature on the role of PCSK9 in a wide array of infectious diseases.
Besides the ongoing investigation on PCSK9 inhibition among HIV-infected patients for the treatment of HIV- and ART-related hyperlipidemia, preclinical studies indicate how PCSK9 is involved in reducing the replication of HCV. Moreover, a protective role of PCSK9 inhibition has also been proposed against dengue and SARS-CoV-2 viral infections. Interestingly, high plasmatic PCSK9 levels have been described in patients with sepsis. Finally, a loss of function in the PCSK9-encoding gene has been reported to possibly reduce mortality in malaria infection.
Abstract
Background
Severely immunocompromised patients are at risk for prolonged or relapsed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), leading to increased morbidity and mortality. We aimed to evaluate ...efficacy and safety of combination treatment in immunocompromised COVID-19 patients.
Methods
We included all immunocompromised patients with prolonged/relapsed COVID-19 treated with combination therapy with 2 antivirals (remdesivir plus nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, or molnupiravir in case of renal failure) plus, if available, anti-spike monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), between February and October 2022. The main outcomes were virological response at day 14 (negative Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 SARS-CoV-2 swab) and virological and clinical response (alive, asymptomatic, with negative SARS-CoV-2 swab) at day 30 and the last follow-up.
Results
Overall, 22 patients (Omicron variant in 17/18) were included: 18 received full combination of 2 antivirals and mAbs and 4 received 2 antivirals only; in 20 of 22 (91%) patients, 2 antivirals were nirmatrelvir/ritonavir plus remdesivir. Nineteen (86%) patients had hematological malignancy, and 15 (68%) had received anti-CD20 therapy. All were symptomatic; 8 (36%) required oxygen. Four patients received a second course of combination treatment. The response rate at day 14, day 30, and last follow-up was 75% (15/20 evaluable), 73% (16/22), and 82% (18/22), respectively. Day 14 and 30 response rates were significantly higher when combination therapy included mAbs. Higher number of vaccine doses was associated with better final outcome. Two patients (9%) developed severe side effects (bradycardia leading to remdesivir discontinuation and myocardial infarction).
Conclusions
Combination therapy including 2 antivirals (mainly remdesivir and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir) and mAbs was associated with high rate of virological and clinical response in immunocompromised patients with prolonged/relapsed COVID-19.
Twenty-two immunocompromised patients with prolonged/relapsed COVID-19 received combination therapy with 2 antivirals (remdesivir + nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, n = 20; remdesivir + molnupiravir, n = 2) together with anti-spike monoclonal antibodies in 18. The response rate at day 14, day 30, and last follow-up was 75%, 73%, and 82%, respectively.
Graphical Abstract
This graphical abstract is also available at Tidbit: https://tidbitapp.io/tidbits/triple-combination-therapy-with-two-antivirals-and-monoclonal-antibodies-for-persistent-or-relapsed-sars-cov-2-infection-in-immunocompromised-patients-e11f0a53-a0b3-46e6-b05c-776274714814
The effect of long term dietary linseed addition on performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of Italian Simmental (IS) and Italian Holstein (HI) young bulls was investigated. Thirty-two ...animals were assigned to 4 groups following a factorial design: 2 breeds – IS and IH – ×2 diets – containing whole ground linseed (5–8% of DM) and control. IS had greater in vivo performance and carcass characteristics than IH. IS muscle had lower C14:0, C16:0, SFA, higher C18:2n-6 cis, PUFAn-6, PUFA and PUFA/SFA proportion than IH in phospholipids (PL) fraction. Linseed inclusion did not affect animal's performance and carcass characteristics. In muscle PL, linseed increased C20:0, C22:0, C23:0, C20:5n-3 and decreased C20:4n-6, PUFAn-6/n-3, PUFAn-6 concentration. Linseed decreased C14:0, C16:0 proportion in neutral lipids (NL) and increased total PUFAn-3, C18:3n-3 proportions both in NL and PL fraction. However, these differences were relatively low from a quantitative point of view.
► Linseed does not influence animal performance and carcass characteristics. ► Breed affects mainly fatty acid composition of phospholipids fraction. ► Linseed increases PUFAn-3, C18:3n-3 in neutral and phospholipids fraction.
Heavy pigs are used in Italy to produce fresh meat, dry-cured ham, salami and lard. Fatty acid profile determines both the dietary and organoleptic qualities of these products. The objective was to ...study the polymorphisms of two genes that code for enzymes of the fatty acid metabolism, namely, Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) and Fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS2). We also investigated the polymorphism of the Sterol regulatory element binding protein gene (SREBF1) as it regulates SCD and FADS2 transcription. Significant associations of SCD were found with the ratio of oleic to stearic acid; with the concentration (g/100g of fat) of stearic and oleic acids. The concentrations of arachidonic and linoleic acids and the ratio of dihomo-gamma-linolenic to linoleic acid were significantly associated with FADS2 polymorphisms. SREBF1 polymorphism was associated with oleic acid concentrations and the ratio of arachidonic to linoleic acids.
Our findings suggest that the SCD, FADS2 and SREBF1 polymorphisms are associated with dietary quality of heavy pig meat products.
► We analysed fatty acid profile in meat and fat of 129 heavy pigs. ► SCD polymorphism was associated with oleic and stearic acids concentrations. ► FADS2 polymorphism was associated with linoleic and arachidonic acids concentrations. ► SREBF1 SNP was associated with oleate content and the arachidonate to linoleate ratio.
remains an important human pathogen of concern, with mortality rates surpassing 30% in the case of severe systemic infections. Distinguishing methicillin-susceptible
from methicillin-resistant
(MRSA) ...is fundamental for therapeutic choices. A crucial emerging concept in the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections is the availability of various approved agents with anti-MRSA activity, which allow a personalized approach based on the characteristics of any given patient while at the same time remaining in line with high certainty efficacy evidence from large randomized controlled trials. Regarding the treatment of
bloodstream infections (BSI), interesting aspects that may become relevant in the near future are the presence of both old and novel agents in phase-2 or phase-3 of clinical development for this indication, and the pressing need for high certainty evidence to guide the possible use of combination therapy in specific categories or phenotypes of patients with complicated MRSA BSI.
Abstract
Background/Introduction
CT-based fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) has been extensively studied and established as a valuable tool for clinical decision making over the past decade. ...Nevertheless, clinical implementation has not been systematically adopted due to economic and technical reasons. Among the latter, the turn-around time for the computation and analysis' results potentially plays an important role.
Purpose
To evaluate the feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of CT-FFR computed on-site with a novel, deep learning-based algorithm using invasive hemodynamic indices as the reference standard.
Methods
Sixty-one patients who underwent clinically indicated coronary computed tomography angiography and invasive FFR (iFFR) and/or instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) measurements were retrospectively included. CT-FFR analysis was performed in 77 arteries using an on-site prototype software based on deep learning algorithms for coronary anatomy segmentation and prediction of the pressure drop under rest and hyperemia. The diagnostic performance of CT-FFR to detect hemodynamic significant lesions was assessed using iFFR (≤0.8) and/or iFR (≤0.89) as the standard of reference (60 patients with iFFR, 11 patients with iFR, and 3 patients with both) and the receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. Furthermore, correlation analysis and Bland-Altman (BA) analysis was performed. Time for analysis including processing and manual edits to the lumen segmentation was recorded.
Results
CT-FFR analysis was successful in 59 (97%) patients and 74 (96%) arteries. In 74 arteries, 31 of 74 coronary lesions were invasively found to be hemodynamically significant. Total mean time for per patient CT-FFR analysis was 7 minutes and 55 seconds. Compared with invasive indices, per-lesion sensitivity and specificity of CT-FFR were 90%, and 98%, respectively. The AUC of CT-FFR vs. invasive indices for hemodynamic significance was 0.94, (95% confidence interval: 0.86–0.98). Compared to iFFR, CT-FFR correlated well (r=0.77) with only a very small bias (0.02) and narrow BA limits of agreement (−0.14 to 0.17). The per-lesion accuracy, sensitivity and specificity vs. iFFR were 96%, 93%, and 100%, respectively.
Conclusion
A novel deep learning-based CT-FFR algorithm yields excellent diagnostic accuracy compared to invasive hemodynamic indices to detect lesion-specific ischemia and offers the potential to be readily implemented into clinical practice given that it can be performed fast and on-site.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: None.
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